11 comments:

Hello, the algorithm is so stupid that I am ashamed to tell you ;) I just take a polygon, and each turn I shift and rotate it a bit, further on the sheet. it's tested on collision with the allready placed shapes. When a suitable position is found, then it is placed. It's a prototype now, I hope future will bring better solutions. I would like to implement something better when I have time, but there are other priorities....

Hi, this looks great!Do you think the same packing algorithm could be used to pack UVs? Right now Blender's UV packing leaves a lot of wasted space. There could be an option to rotate the islands or leave them as they are oriented.I understand you're busy and have other priorities for now, but I thought I'd throw the idea around and maybe... :)Thanks for your hard work!

Hello, I thought about this. The only problem is it's so slooow :) but yes, it gives better results in the end, so I thought I could try to implement it as an separate addon. Also, it needs Polygon library, which is not part of blender, so the distribution would be probably with blender CAM only...

Hi,another suggestion to what is a huge heap already I guess :)Is it possible to make layer step down with a slope?

Today I tried milling steel (had to do a square hole) with my small diy el-cheapo dc-motor mill for the first time. Goes without saying layers have to be really thin (0.05mm). A bit of surprise was that the main obstacle is not so much in the cut depth but in the moment of going down. As flutes are less sharp closer to middle, even so small straight-down plunge causes noticeable forces, though going sideways has no problem.By no means I wanted to say you should orient on guys like me. I just thought it might be useful for any other non-center-cutting bit work too, if material is not flexible.

Hello, first I have to say:I strongly discourage anybody from using Blender CAM on steel ;)However, if you test your paths and know what you are doing, then it's ok. Cutout allready has a ramp move. For pocket, there is a Helix option. Did you try that one?It is only for pocket operation now... I thought about doing this for more strategies, but by now, it is more complex to do that so that it works in all cases....

I was using cutout strategy to keep a one-line cut. But indeed, pocket strategy helix function is there, and it even works with layers, which is great :)

One note about it though - it's not really working for helical drilling as it has quite big safety margin to show up - the hole has to be at least three times the tool with for helix to appear. Maybe the safety margin be reduced or even optional? I understand that drilling with end mill is not the perfection to say the least, but for small jobs it seems to be the simplest solution.Thanks for reply anyway :)And yeah - there's no guarantee for my mill not to brake apart even if the path is perfect, so I'm milling steel on my own risk ;)

For cutout there is a ramp down option, you just have to switch on "first down" option first. It works , but not yet for non-closed curves...Regarding helix, the margin should be precise so that the cutter doesn't exceed limits, but I can check if there isn't too big margin...

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